“I would like you to find me a warm pumpkin drink and then we’ll see,” Ophelia challenged in disbelief, brow still furrowed. She liked pumpkin in certain dishes, mostly kabocha in hobakjuk. Eyeing Seonho’s drink, it definitely at least seemed better than the one she had. “November is still a full 30 days before December rolls in. Please just let me prolong the holiday season because I don’t think I can stand to realize that the year is almost over,” she replied with a scrunched nose. “Oh Mariah Carey requires defrosting starting around August. She’s too powerful for us.” A giggle followed at the mental image of a frozen Mariah Carey in a block of ice. “Mmm let me take another look.” Her eyes scanned over the menu–some of the listing appearing silly and over-dramatic, but at least the ingredients seemed much more desirable. “Mmm transformation cocktail sounds good,” her finger pointed on the menu, listing a frozen mixture of blackberry brandy, rum, strawberries, and orange juice. “I don’t know why I didn’t try that in the first place!”
"Well, I'm not going to find one here. Obviously." Seonho's cheeks puff out and he pokes out his tongue playfully. Pumpkin isn't an every day part of his diet, and even seasonally, it's not often that he indulges in it. "But if we don't think ahead to Christmas until after Thanksgiving like most people ask for, then we don't even get a full month of anticipation!" Another year gone by is a hard thing for Seonho to swallow, but that's just how time works. It keeps slipping through his fingers, and another year gone feels like another year wasted when he considers how little has changed in the past year and how little he has accomplished. He watches Ophelia look over the menu, sipping at his own sugary sweet cocktail, and nods his head at her choice, humming under his breath. "That does sound delicious. You can't go wrong with a bunch of fruits all mixed together." Meanwhile, he thinks that he will switch to beer after this. He knows that she has drawn him out here for him to relax, but he doesn't want to lose sense of himself either. "You know what, I will get a pumpkin beer next so that you have a better idea of what good pumpkin alcohol tastes like."
Mei's face immediately broke out into a bright grin and she nodded her head. "You get it," she said quite simply. "The plan is to make a display of sorts, so this is one of many, but I need a few that can take centre stage." This pumpkin could definitely do that, especially now she had Seonho's agreement. At least someone didn't think she was completely insane.
"Oh, I can't wait to see that when you are done," he enthuses excitedly, wondering how Mei will choose to display them. "Are you going to paint or carve them at all?" Seonho poses as his eyes survey the nearby pumpkins. "You should get a few small ones to go on the sides." He taps on a nearby gourd. "I need to find two solid ones for my youngest sisters to carve up."
Having a themed night at the bar was enough reason for Ophelia to try and lure Seonho for a night out. Unfortunately, the drink she got was awful. "Just you wait and see," she warned with a raised brow. She eyed him carefully, awaiting and expecting a similar reaction to hers, and when he did, she felt vindicated. "Apple! Apple is so good but I wonder if they thought pumpkin and pumpkin spice is more of a cash grab." Taking the glass from Seonho, she pushed it away from them in hopes of it disappearing completely. "It isn't even November yet! I am not ready for it to be Christmas but I do love peppermint mochas."
"Sure, pumpkin works better in hot drinks though. Especially when using a puree..." Part of the problem with this drink is it's too chunky, and it's a textural problem in his mouth. Which is saying something since Seonho is far from picky. He couldn't afford to be, sipping on his Harvest Punch cocktail that he has been nursing ever since he had arrived. Pacing himself slowly and not protesting when Ophelia disposed of the drink that is swiftly grabbed by a passing bartender. "November is right around the corner! And I was talking more about the flavors first and foremost. Not even I will be blasting Mariah Carey before Thanksgiving." Though he is already planning his annual Christmas card. "Do you want a Peppermint Schnaps then or something? Or does something else on the Halloween menu speak to you?"
open starter ! @chqstarter
location: hell & high water
"Seriously, I know it's fall and people love their seasonal drinks and everything, but who thought a pumpkin spice cocktail was gonna taste good?" Ophelia squeaked, face scrunching from the sip she had just taken from her autumnal drink. Pushing it away from her on the counter, she shook her head with disgust. "Do you want to finish this?"
Seonho eyes the cocktail with a level of skepticism but curls his hands around the glass anyway, pushing it toward him. "Sure. You know that I can't let it go to waste...and how bad can it be?" After taking a sip, his mouth contorts unpleasantly and he sticks out his tongue. "Okay, actually, that is still pretty bad...if we are going to go with fall flavors, we should lean into apple. Or cranberry! Though quite frankly, I am ready to skip all of that and head to Christmas." His favorite holiday, as made obnoxiously clear every year. "Switch out the pumpkin for peppermint and this would be so much better." He swallows another long swig.
open starter // "what? no." yemaya frowned. "why do you think i would do something like that?" yemaya wasn't the type who would be caught up in anything that wasn't deemed to be just and good. she was a softie at heart, and cried at the slightest inconvenience -- behind close doors, anyway. "i don't know what you heard, but i think you have the wrong person. sorry." @chqstarter
"Okay, okay, no need to be so defensive..." As sophisticated as he portrays himself, Kareem is admittedly a sucker for hot gossip. "I was just relaying what I had been told. The organizer this event had just mentioned that someone was going around pulling pranks on people, emphasizing more on the 'trick' rather than the treat of this holiday. I wasn't meaning to point the finger at you in particular." Though it very well could be how it came across.
The guilt that Bianca started feeling as soon as she saw it was Seonho's car was evident. Sure she felt some guilt beforehand but not enough to bribe someone for their silence. But not her sweet Seonho! "Oh buddy I'm so sorry!" She quickly ran over to double check that she really didn't and was embarrassed to find some marks. "Oh god no there are some! Please let me make it up to you somehow, Seonho. I feel so terrible."
Hands are quick to fly up, waving dismissively as if the motion could erase any guilt that Bianca feels. As far as Seonho is concerned, there's no harm done. "Don't even worry about it! Really. It's impossible to know how many marks were already there, and I'm not worried about it." In his perspective, Bianca has already done him so many favors, and he wouldn't hold something so trivial against her. "So long as she still runs," He pats a hand on top of the vehicle's hood, smile spreading on his face. The vehicle is on its last legs. "It's all good.
To say that Bianca hated grocery shopping was an understatement. There were always too many choices and in general it was too boring for her liking. Which was why she liked to play little games with herself when she could. The most fun to her was shopping cart bowling, and at the end of her trip she tried to get a perfect score by pushing her cart into the return when it gave an unexpected veer to the right hitting a car. "Oh shit!" Bianca said before looking around and finding someone who watched the whole thing. "Listen I'll give you $20 if you don't snitch." She offered before a sudden thought came to mind. "Or I'll buy you lunch if that was your car."
The crash startles him. He had packed his bags into the backseat of his car rather than his already full trunk that Seonho keeps forgetting to empty. And it's when he had moved to return his own cart that the incident had occurred. Facing Bianca as she admits to being the culprit, he gives the older woman a wave of the hand. "It's no big deal. You didn't even leave a mark, so no harm done." A quick assessment reveals a few scratches around his rear bumper, but his car has already been in terrible shape. It's likely on its last legs considering that he has been driving it around for eight years, and it had already been a decade old before he had purchased it.
open starter // "the last thing any of us needs is a halloween party. aren't we a little too grown up for that?" richard arched an eyebrow. he did not see himself dressing up and socializing. he'd be completely fine socializing --- without the extra bullshit. "i mean, to each their own but --- i am going to sit this one out, mate." @chqstarter
"That's a shame because I have the perfect costume idea for you," Kareem quips, amused as he tickles his fingers along his chin. "You could be the Grinch. Only orange instead of green because you're the Halloween remix version." Kareem isn't all that into Halloween and doesn't go out of his way on hi costume, but he does see it as a fun way of expression. Almost like an art form all its own.
"What about this one?" Mei was already crouched down, dirty hands firmly gripping the pumpkin in question, ready to rip it from the vine. It was oddly shaped, pretty large, and the brightest of orangy-reds you could imagine. "There's just... something about it. Do you know what I mean?"
Seonho surveys the pumpkin, eyes bright and nod excited as his head bobbles in agreement. "Now that pumpkin has character," he declares with a wide grin, "It would definitely stand out if you intend to set it up on your porch or someplace. This kind of pumpkin is a star, so I feel like it's meant to live a life on display." Albeit a short one considering the shelf life of a pumpkin."
LOGAN, THIRTY-ONE, CST; SHE/THEY. | if you’re hearing I MAKE MY OWN SUNSHINE by ALYSSA BONAGURA playing, you have to know SEONHO JONES (HE/HIM; CIS MAN) is near by! the TWENTY-SIX year old GIG WORKER (MULTIPLE JOBS) has been in denver for, like, ELEVEN YEARS. they’re known to be quite RESTLESS, but being BUOYANT seems to balance that out. or maybe it’s the fact that they resemble CHA EUNWOO. personally, i’d love to know more about them seeing as how they’ve got those WARM HONEY EYES THAT ARE ALWAYS CRINKLING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF A SMILE, AN ELASTIC HEART THAT ENDURES AGAINST ALL ODDS, A VIBRATING ENERGIZER BUNNY THAT RUNS AROUND IN CIRCLES IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO MOVE FORWARD AND IS IN NEED OF REST vibes. and maybe i’ll get my chance if i hang out around the LAKERIDGE DISTRICT long enough!
Full profile under the cut!
APPLICABLE TRIGGER WARNINGS: non-descriptive mentions of abandonment, death by brain aneurysm, degenerative cognitive illness, homelessness
STATS
Birth Name: Seonho Ryu ( 류선호 )
Legal Name: Seonho Jones
Occupation: Uber driver / Maintenance worker at Empower Field / miscellaneous contract/manual work, etc. (if any part-time jobs are available at specific places, please let me know!)
Age: Twenty-six
Date of Birth: February 28th, 1997
Ethnicity/Race: Korean
Gender & Pronouns: Cis man | he/him
Orientation: Bisexual
Social Class: Lower class
Languages: English (fluent), Korean (fluent)
Height: 183 cm / 6’0"
Tattoo(s): musical notes on his right ankle with ‘keep moving forward’ written next to it, an arrow heart on his chest with birthdates of his family inside, purple and burgundy forget-me-nots on his shoulderblades, korean idiom across his spine which translates roughly to "at the end of hardship comes happiness" (고생 끝에 낙이 온다)
Piercing(s): ears (double lobe, double helix, snug, conch), left eyebrow
Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Current Residence: Denver, Colorado, USA
Parents: Mina Park-Jones (mother), Jalen Jones (step/adoptive father, deceased), Seongmin Ryu (biological father, absent)
Siblings: Unnamed sister (younger sister, wc posted), Unnamed sister (younger sister, wc posted), Sam (younger gnc half sibling, age 17), Hana (younger half sister, age 14), and Melody (younger half sister, age 13)
Traits: Buoyant, steadfast, enthusiastic, self-sacrificing, generous, escapist, humble, restless, stubborn
MBTI: ENFP - The Campaigner
Eanneatype: Type 2 - The Helper
Moral Alignment: Neutral Good
Temperament: Phlegmatic
Intelligence Type: Musical / Intrapersonal
Astrology: Pisces sun, Scorpio moon, Leo ascending
Habits: Gesturing when speaking, pointing, wears mismatched socks, randomly bursts into song, nicotine addiction (vapes), in general poor self-care habits
Hobbies: Listening to music, writing music, producing music, dancing, sending memes, playing musical instruments, scrapbooking, papercrafting
Likes: Music, romantic comedies, socializing, sunflower seeds, humming, smiling, cuddling, tteokbokki, adult coloring books, thunderstorms, trying new things even if he’s bad at them
Dislikes: Conflict, waking up early, traffic, most academic things, balancing a checkbook / anything financial-related, folding clothes, humidity, being overheated, wasting food, feeling like he’s not doing enough
BIOGRAPHY
Seonho was born the eldest child to two immigrant parents, Seongmin Ryu and Mina Park, who moved to the United States of America from South Korea when Mina was pregnant with Seonho after she was disowned by her parents who disapproved of Seongmin. His biological father walked out on Seonho, his mother, and two of his younger siblings when he was five years old and Seonho has always believed that they were better off without him.
After being homeless and hopping between the streets and halfways houses after the abandonment, his mother remarried three years to Seonho’s stepfather, Jalen Jones, who would become the only Dad that Seonho acknowledged in his life. Jalen adopted the three eldest children upon his marriage to Mina and they all took on his last name. Three more children would enter the fold throughout the years.
Early on in his childhood, Seonho fell in love with music thanks to Jalen’s side-gig playing the saxophone in a jazz band. He would sing along to every Disney movie and musical and tried to groove to the beat. While he was initially clumsy on his feet, his mother fondly nicknaming him Bambi, he was determined to learn how to dance. He had a talented ear for music, picking up musical instruments and mastering them with an ease. His parents encouraged his passion as best they could, ensuring that they budgeted well enough to afford sending Seonho to his music lessons. While performing at the city market, he was scouted by a Korean entertainment agency at the age of thirteen.
However, he was still a trainee when he flew back home and prematurely ended his contract due to his stepfather dying suddenly of a ruptured brain aneurysm as a result of overworking. After losing their home to foreclosure, the fragmented family relocated to Denver, Colorado.
As the oldest child, he assumed a great deal of responsibility in the household. While he wanted to drop out of school, his mother insisted that he stay enrolled and graduate. He earned money any way that he could to help keep the household, mowing lawns during the summer and working manual labor in the evenings. Sometimes, he would resort to not-so-legal methods if need be.
His music became all the more dear to him, filling the gaping holes in his chest that were created from his dream continually slipping through his fingers. He could never catch a break after that.
A year before Seonho graduated from high school, his mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. After it came to the point that his mother could no longer properly take care of them or herself, she was admitted into a longterm care facility by order of the municipality. At that point, Seonho was eighteen and filed for guardianship of his siblings who had been sent to foster care, which he would eventually be granted after a months' long battle with the courts. He also became the conservator of his mother’s well-being.
It's been hard, yet Seonho kept going anyway. See, he’s a hopeful guy, despite everything, resilient at his core, and even if it meant that he had to work at least 80 hours a week and juggle too many bills and loans, he was going to do it with a smile.
There have been hard days, of course. Days where he would visit his mother and she would call him by the name of a man best left forgotten.
Seonho insists that he provide for his family and ensure that each of his siblings focus on their studies, graduate from school, and are afforded opportunities that he did not have.
Seonho often distracts himself by throwing himself into helping people as a by-product of measuring his self-worth by what he can do for other people (thanks, capitalism). This makes him a bit of a doormat, yet not a naïve, unaware one. He just has decided it’s not worth ruffling feathers, and he can’t take risks like he otherwise would out of fear of disrupting what little stability he has been able to achieve for his family.
LOGAN, THIRTY-ONE, CST; SHE/THEY. | if you’re hearing COMING HOME by BRIDGES playing, you have to know KAREEM SALAAM (HE/HIM; CIS MAN) is near by! the THIRTY-SEVEN year old MUSEUM CURATOR has been in denver for, like, SIX MONTHS. they’re known to be quite FICKLE, but being FREE-THINKING seems to balance that out. or maybe it’s the fact that they resemble YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II. personally, i’d love to know more about them seeing as how they’ve got those PERFECTIONISM THAT IS ALWAYS BEING FINE-TUNED AND REWORKED LIKE A MOLD OF CLAY, A GLASS OF CURATED WINE WHILE READING CLIVE BELL FOR THE THOUSANDTH TIME, FRENCH PRESS COFFEE WITH A SPLASH OF CONDENSED MILK vibes. and maybe i’ll get my chance if i hang out around the CHERRY CREEK long enough!
Full profile under the cut!
APPLICABLE TRIGGER WARNINGS: brief mentions of death by helicopter accident and natural causes
STATS
Full Name: Kareem Arash Salaam
Nickname(s): None
Occupation: Museum curator at Denver Art Museum
Age: Thirty-seven
Date of Birth: July 22nd, 1986
Ethnicity/Race: Black, West Indian, African-Caribbean
Gender & Pronouns: Cis man | he/him
Orientation: Bisexual
Height: 193 cm / 6’3”
Tattoo(s): None
Piercing(s): None
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Current Residence: Denver, Colorado
Languages: English (fluent), French (fluent)
Social Class: Upper middle class
Notable Family Members: Jahmal Salaam (father, deceased), Abigail Salaam (mother), Hamaad Salaam (paternal grandfather, deceased)
Traits: Honorable, creative, free-thinking, philosophical, inventive, fickle, snooty and petty
MBTI: ISTP - The Virtuoso
Eanneatype: Type 3 - The Achiever
Moral Alignment: True Neutral
Temperament: Phlegmatic
Intelligence Type: Spatial, existential
Astrology: Cancer sun, Aquarius moon, Capricorn ascending
Habits: Glancing at watch, tapping his foot, rubbing chin, tunes boring people out, over-organized, snores when sleeping, turns almost everything into a project, raising eyebrows, often stands with hands behind his back
Hobbies: Metalcrafting, wood-working, resin molding, anything art-related, visiting wineries, art journaling, visiting restaurants and giving scorching reviews on social media, reading
Likes: Charcuterie boards, cured meats, philosophical debate, questioning existence and other people's poor choices, candles, pastries
Dislikes: The fog, cake that's too sweet, flying on airplanes, people trying to give him nicknames, being cold, clutter
BIOGRAPHY
His father was a hero. That’s what others would tell Kareem when they recounted how his father died in a helicopter accident as an EMSA pilot during a vicious hurricane.
But Kareem wasn't ever interested in chasing after his father's legacy, in flying that close to the sun, keeping his feet planted firmly on the ground from a young age.
As the result of his father passing and his mother being away from home a lot working, he was raised primarily by a no-nonsense paternal grandfather starting from the age of seven. His grandfather instilled in him high values and expectations and, as a result, Kareem always has held himself to high standards and views the world with a critical gaze.
Through his observations from his youth, Kareem adopted his own code of conduct. He doesn’t just hold himself to this code, but also the people around him, and as a result, he has alienated more people than not. This suits Kareem just fine as he preferred to have a smaller, curated circle of friends.
Incredibly cutthroat and unafraid to sever ties, Kareem spent most of his time exploring the world through nature, philosophy, and art. Often found with a book in hand, in a lot of ways, George Dickie, Walter Kaufmann, and Ted Cohen were his most steady companions growing up.
While he finds plenty of faults in people and the world around him, Kareem also has a fascination with the beauty of the imperfections that exist in every corner, leading him to follow a passion for the arts. Graduating from high school in his hometown of New Orleans, Kareem went on to get his bachelor’s in Museum Studies from New York Univeristy.
It is during this time that he meets Kassandra Yung, his first love. After a period of pining, the two of them began to date, only calling it quits upon graduation. Kassandra was going back to her home, and Kareem needed to move onto graduate school, and the two of them split after deciding not to try and make the relationship work long distance. For awhile, they still exchanged letters until contact dwindled.
Career-focused, Kareem went to John Hopkins University for his graduate studies, and after he had completed the program, he served his internship at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Kareem spent the better part of the next decade hopping around the southern United States and leaving his footprint in various museums with his hand-picked exhibits. During this time, it wasn’t only art pieces that he left behind, but also broken hearts. Never settling down for long.
Kareem dabbles in creating art pieces of his own every now and then, preferring woodworking and metal crafting to any other art styles, but he mostly loves to pick art pieces to hang not just in his home, but in local museums as a museum curator.
After the passing of his grandfather last year, Kareem decided to spread his wings and relocate to Denver, Colorado to help nurture the vibrantly growing art scene there.
Throughout all of his moves, Kareem never once has taken flight, traveling cross-country by car with a moving van following behind him. Accommodating to the cooler weather has been difficult for him and he dreads the upcoming summer, but it is a price he is willing to pay for the rich culture that he has found in Denver, specifically in the River North Art District where he works.
"Like a thousand dollars at least. Maybe more." He couldn't afford that, but hey, maybe someone could. "Damn, I wanted to be a nepo baby." He sighed, wishing that he could be like Jamie Lee Curtis or someone as cool as her. "An internal promo doesn't sound as cool. Though I dunno if it's really a promotion yet, I don't get paid much to practice because it's like practicing, you know?" His rate had to be lower, of course. "You can't have a back and forth with a dog? I've seen some huskies on tiktok that love to argue."
"A thousand dollars?" He whistles. "If that was my going rate, my bank account would be in a far better state than it is." The sentiment that Matt relays is one that he could echo. It would be nice if he had more of a leg up than he does, but he tries not to complain. "Your apprenticeship is kinda the same to an internship, right? That's probably how they rationalize not compensate you for your practicing time, but I don't mind volunteering myself as tribute once you get to that point." Laughter rips through him freely. "Okay, that's fair. Animals have plenty to say, but I don't know how good I'd be at interpreting."
Daphne's grin stretches to its furthest reaches, wrinkles forming in the corners of her eyes. It is a great responsibility — a good soundtrack can make or break a long drive, and by the looks of the traffic today, they could be here a while. Though it's not the reason she usually walks or cycles, avoiding the busy roads is a great perk. "I'll try not to disappoint." She teases, glancing over at him before turning back to his phone. "Hmm, I suppose that's true. I'd be interested in knowing what my music taste tells you about me — only if it's something good, though." Her laugh is soft, airy. She scrolls through a 90s club classics playlist she has saved on her own account. "Should we go with a mood booster?"
There's no reason for Daphne to sweat her choice. Seonho may attempt to derive knowledge from someone's musical tastes, but it's all in good humor and good fun. With him, there's no real wrong choice, even when someone's taste may be very distinct from his own. His eyes catch the name of the playlist, lighting up in interest. "Hell yeah. I think we could use something that keeps us bumping along as we...literally bump along." He gestures vaguely in front of him to the bumper-to-bumper traffic that they are wading through. "This was a good era for club music. Not that I was alive for much of it, nor was I anywhere near to being close to club-age." Even now that he is an adult, it's not often that he frequents the club. "Go ahead and hit play."
"Exactly, they have such imagination that isn't jaded. I love watching them get excited about things. There are some that just thought it was cool that the meteors were part of a comet falling to earth but others still see it as magic and I can't even blame them." Her eyes drop to the cookies with a smile. "They are similar to a shortbread cookie, with a guava past center atleast the red ones, the others are chocolate frosting. Not everyone is fond of Guava." Picking up one of the guavas she takes a bite before offering the man the man another smile. "Nice to meet you Kareem, My name is Carleigha"
"I work at the museum, and it is kind of sweet to see the kids' faces light up in wonder." He imagines that it would be more worthwhile to work specifically at the children's museum, but Kareem knows himself well enough to acknowledge that he is far more into the in-depth, more abstract work that he does. "A guava center, huh? Sounds interesting..." And more to his palette preference compared to chocolate, nibbling on one of the morsels and humming approvingly. "This is pretty damn good. Thanks, Carleigha. I appreciate you sharing the goods with me."
"Yeah, for sure. And people will be lookin' for things to do inside." He wasn't sure if he was ready for the cold just yet. At least they had a little bit to go till then. "I'm gonna be the first in line there." He said excitedly, "I don't think people realize the work that goes into exhibits."
"Precisely. Love when a plan comes together, and even more thrilled when we are on the same wavelength." Kareem rubs his hands together, as if this had been what he anticipated all along. "See, now that's an idea for a seminar one day. Allow people to have more insight into all of what goes into what we do. Maybe if we illuminate some light onto all of the work that it takes, our field would be more appreciated."
"For real. You could be one, I'd hire you." Well, if he could afford it. "I kinda had an in anyways, being a piercer, I'm like almost a nepo baby with gettin' to be an apprentice." He was the furthest from a nepo baby, in reality but there, maybe it was comforting to feel like one. "See? You should work with dogs. They don't talk as much as people do. And their breath's probably better than most too."
"I wonder what would be a fair rate for me to charge for that." It's an amusing thought to entertain in a hypothetical manner only. "I don't think that counts as nepotism. It's more like you already had some of the skills. It's, like, an internal promotion, which is totally different." Or it is in Seonho's head anyway. He laughs freely, the sound vibrating through his chest. "You aren't wrong. But I do think that I would miss the back and forth conversation."
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